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Philip Harper

After the period when the aging of sake was rarist, some breweries and retailers rediscovered the genre by accident. Stock that for some reason was left over would sit forgotten or neglected in a dusty corner, only to be later rediscovered after having turned ...

In most sake breweries, the brewing season is over by May, a month marked by the announcement of the National New Sake Awards, the biggest public prize to which a brewer can aspire. (Those interested can taste some of the prizewinners at the National ...

The prizewinning Eikun: Kinsho-shu sake comes from Kyoto-based Saito Shuzo, the only brewery to bag the gold prize at the annual National New Sake Awards an astounding 10 years in succession. Ichigin won the accolade in 2007. The moment the cap is off, pyrotechnic ...

Look at the labels of pricier sake and you will almost certainly find the word ginjo. Meaning “brewed with particular care,” it is one of the most recognizable sake terms, and not just for nihonshu (sake) geeks. Even Japanese with no interest in the ...

Being a 41-year-old male puts me at the end of my yakudoshi, a period when Japanese believe all kinds of calamity are due to befall me and mine. Running to form, a family crisis meant I had to fly home to Britain on Dec. ...

Sake breweries are mostly dead quiet over the summer, and are just now getting into full swing as the chilly weather makes for more brewing-friendly conditions. The kanzukuri (cold brewing) pattern of concentrating production in the coldest months of the year became mainstream in ...

I recently returned from Britain, where I took part in some events sponsored by the Japan Central Brewers’ Association and the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation. I was impressed by the quality and the sheer variety of sake offered by Japanese brewers and enthusiastic local distributors ...

It used to be said that the human tongue perceived flavor in the form of four basic tastes: sweet, sour, salty and bitter. Then a Japanese scientist, Ikeda Kikunae (1864-1936), detected a rich, satisfying taste common to meat, cheese and Japanese dashi (stock) — ...

Sake has gone global in recent years and, as might be expected, drinkers new to Japan’s signature beverage often look for parallels with more familiar tipples when choosing what to imbibe. In particular, many wine drinkers who have strayed into the sake world try ...